Dancing with Enemy
dot hack PSQ, Madison Wisconsin, 13 March 2004
Adam Molnar

Pre-tourney: It's time to play some dot hack, taking a day off from being a TA and the thesis, and making the 2 1/2 hour drive to Madison. It's sunny, so the drive is easy. I've played Madison LotR events three times before (plus judging once), and three times have finished 4-2.
Since some of you reading this may not play much, let me give you a quick summary: Dot hack is a fun game, not a complicated game. Though it uses destiny, it's nowhere near as confusing as Decipher Star Wars, or even Lord of the Rings. This does mean less tactical work, but there are substantial gains in interaction and barriers to entry. I can actually teach demos that get people to play tournaments in 30 minutes. Try that with LotR or the stack. Additionally, Chuck K and Mike R from Decipher are the two quality lead designers. While I still personally prefer LotR, dot hack is quite enjoyable, and that's why we play, correct?
The prior night, I had written out the decklist. Playtest partner Tucker has developed Enemy, which is the best deck in Chicagoland. Unfortunately, Enemy really requires Mimiru, four Mimiru, and I own zero. Moonstone and Enou are vastly inferior replacements. Here's my decklist, in case you're interested. It's a fairly inexpensive deck - the rares are Goblin Night and Ogre (and Ogre is really best because of the 5 destiny) - and the starter deck Premiums are Phantom Wing and Shield Devil. Total cost is maybe fifty bucks. Adding 4 Mimiru would double the cost.
4 Natsume
3 Moonstone
4 Enou
4 Goblin
4 Magical Goblin
4 Hobgoblin
4 Goblin Night
4 Goblin Wiz
4 Cannibal
4 Ogre
4 Phantom Wing
4 Hungry Grass
4 Red Wyrm
4 Killer Snaker
2 Lead Snakoid
3 Shield Devil

I'm pleasantly surprised by seeing people from Minnesota who made the four hour drive down for the event, plus Jeff, Karl, and Greg from Chi-town, Milwaukee, and Madison folks. As usual, head judge Chris Wiemer ran an efficient tournament for the 20 players, even appropriately handling a situation in the sixth round where one player at 3 points, the 17th in the pile, had played all three other people at 3. (The tourney guidelines keep the pairing as is.) Apparently, it does happen.

Round 1: Liz, level 2, Twin Blades+Mistral / Knives and Lizards
Liz is one of the TDs in Madison. I remember her, because I gave her a decklist warning when I judged at Misty Mountain, and also from reports of Madison activity on the Knights list. She's a little surprised that I remember, until I mention the reports. It's a wonderfully fun match. Knives are reasonably quick, but running a full PC side slows her down a bit. Also, she stores some knives that she should score, when I don't have any PCs out. Late in the second game, I can drop a Natsume, block 4 Knives and only give up one point. That makes what would have been a close 7-6 game 7-3 instead. 1-0, 3 points.

Round 2: Andrew, level 7, Sora Twin Blades / Darkness
Andrew doesn't know I'm a Crimson Knight, so he's very polite when I drop my three lonely Level Ups. I do tell him during the match, though. It's a quick one, as unfortunately for him Darkness decks only have about 20 monsters with points, and I have 49. Let me take this chance to offer some advice: If you have a point-scoring monster, and your opponent has no PCs out, don't put it in the portal - score it! It wouldn't have made a difference, but it's still good policy. His Sora helps for a while, killing off my Natsume, but I still win 2 straight. 2-0, 6 points.

Round 3: Mike, level 1, Wavemasters+friends / Knives
It's his first event, which means he doesn't have many cards. That means knives, knives everywhere. That, plus a heavy monster deck, means we're close to a mirror. He gets good tempo, including Let us Walk Together, impressively. I have just enough to punch through, 7-4, 7-5. There was at least one chance in each game where a won skirmish on his part wins him the game. But that's dot hack. Later on, he comments on how much nicer we are than the players on the other side of Misty Mountain, playing M***c. That's always good to hear. 3-0, 9 points.

Round 4: Tucker, level 5, Enemy
Tucker and I are the only 3-0s, as there was a draw. We're at table 1, and Liz is at table 2. Before the game, we three get great banter going and manage to frighten Liz's opponent. Tucker has a better deck than I do, and we both know that; I need to get lucky. In the first game, I actually get tempo advantage, and can Cannibal-Cannibal-Ogre out for the win, until Mimiru comes down and that's that. In the second game, I take a chance and mulligan away 2 Goblin, 1 Killer Snaker, 2 Enou, and Moonstone, not a very good hand. I'm hoping to get Goblin recursion going, but I can't find a Hobgoblin until it's too late. In this game, I notice Liz's opponent rather intently watching our game, not his. Once I realize I can't win, I quickly close it out and move along. 3-1, 9 points.

Round 5: Trevor, level 11, Twin Blades+Mistral / Sacrifice
From Minnesota, Trevor has a very innovative deck, which uses A-20, Natsume, Mistral, Orchid Dance and Gale of Swords to get lots of 7 destiny. His monster side is sacrifice oriented - Golems, Baby Worm, Cyclo Shark, and small 4 destiny things. In game 1, he wins a key fight, sets up, and pounds me out. In game 2, he can't get the win, even with a Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, and I go through 7-1. The deciding game starts with me rolling pretty well, and up 4-1 with two Phantom Wings in hand. He topdecks Hidden Forbidden, giving him two turns, so I think. I play my two hiddens, but then he makes the game-winning play of Enou, forcing me to waste two more turns. Four turns is plenty of setup, and then my monster pile starts going backwards. He deals the death blow via Mistral, Orchid Dance, and 7 destiny draw on my last desparate attempt. I overloaded a Goblin, instead of Phantom Wing, so there was a mistake - but I still would have needed a 5 destiny draw, and I don't have many of them. After a 7-2 defeat, now I'm in jeopardy at 3-2, 9 points.

Round 6: John, level 4, Twin Blades / Lizards
John is stated at level 4, but only has 3 physical cards. The physical cards take precedence, so he wins the destiny cut and goes first anyway. This is another tempo match. He plays one or two defensive PCs, as do I one, but they wind up dying. He goes ahead 6-5, but I have the game-winning card: Phantom Wing. He picks up a scored monster, I switch to 6-5 and win 7-6 via Lead Snakoid. In game 2, I go ahead 6-2, but then start losing to Kite with Bom-ba-ye and Wyrm Hide, 4 or 5 times. Eventually I wisen up and start building, letting him through until 6-6. Let's do this in detail, with a Goblin Wiz and Night on Kite, and a Hobgoblin on 4 strength Mistral. Kite first: I draw 3 to go to 9. He draws 3, losing, but Moonstones a 5. At 10-9, I Moonstone, getting another 3. Still 10-9, I Mistral to make him react. This is a mistake, as he had bluffed Repth, but I now realize there was no Water in play. Hee hee. Anyway, it's now my 2 strength Hobgoblin against 4 Strength Natsume. He draws a 2, I draw an Enou. Hey, Enou is good for something after all! 4-2, 12 points.

At least I'm consistent in Madison. My tiebreakers wind up not so hot, so I finish sixth. That's still good enough for the Premier Point, which is what I wanted. Of my opponents, Tucker and Trevor are both in the Top 4 - the other two top decks were Minnesotans piloting Wavemasters and Water, heavily relying on Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. And that's that - trading, then coming home.
Good luck in all your journeys in the World.